John austin best



J. A. BEAST.

CAFID FOR INDEXING.

APrfLvzcAxoN man SBF120. 1916.

1,310,468. l Patent-ed July 22, 1919.

n r ATTORNEYS UNITED sTATEs iguNT crains.'

JOHN AUSTIN BEST, OF AUGUSTA, GEORG.

CARD FOR INDEXING.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN AUSTIN BEST, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Augusta, in the county of Richmond and State ofGeorgia, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cards forindexing, 0f which the following is a speciication.

My present invention relates generally to indexing devices, .and moreparticularly to card indexes, my object being to provide index cards bymeans of which certain advantages in use as regards greater expansion,simplicity, economy, and despatch may be obtained in a mannerhereinafter described.

Among the other objects of my invention, I aim to provide an index cardhaving means whereby to hold a series of cards as a series andindependent of the other series, and in nona-lined relation so that theedges of the several cards of the series will be offset with respect toone another, thus providing for the viewing of ortions of all of theseries of cards so held, at one and the same time.

Another object is to provide an index card so constructed as to bereversible, having for this purpose index indicia of suitable naturealong at least two of its edges in non-alined or offset relation andpreferably upon both its obverse and reverse faces, as hereinafter moreparticularly seen, whereby a single card may be, by proper positioning,made to take care of a plurality of alphabetical divisions in ordertransversely of an index.

My invention ofthe nature above generally described is more particularlyof the nature brought out in the following specification, in whichreference is made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, and wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation'of an indexcard constructed according to my improvement, showing several data cardssupported in a .series thereby;

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of thc card of the type shown inFig. 1, looking at the reverse face thereof, as compared with rthe lcardof Figjl;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section therethrough taken substantially on line3;-3 of Fig. 1; l

Fig. Ll is a perspective view illustrating a slight modification in themanner of forming the slit-sof the card holding member and with respectto the index indicia;

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the card shown in Fig. L1,-looliing at thereverse face thereof;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Fig. 6 is a face view of a. square card having the index indicia alongall its edges;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the manner of dispensing withtabs;

Fig. 8 is a similar` view showing the-reverse face of the card of Fig. 7and Fig. 9 is a face view of a data vcard used with Figs. e and 5.

Referring now to these figures, my invention contemplates the provisionof an index card, shown in Figs. 1 t0 8, inclusive, the card 10 of Figs.1 and 2, the card 10a of Figs. 4 and 5, and tlie card 10" of Figs. 7 i

Patented Juy 22, i919..

Application led September 20, 1916. Serial No. 121,195.

laterally offset with respect to one another,

those at one edge of the card being adjacent one side. thereof, andthose at the other edge being located adjacent the opposite side of thecard, it being readily seen that this arrangement provides for merereversal of the card to bring the desired indicia uppermost and inproper position where the index letters of the alphabet are divided intofour parts as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, or where but a single letter isdesired in four positions as seen in Figs. 4 and 5. lt is obvious thatthe indexingindicia may be located either upon elongated supportingextensions of the body of the cards, one extension adjacent each oftheir edges as in Figs. 7 and .8, or upon -tabs projecting as usual fromthe card edges as in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the latter being of coursearranged so as to prevent the cards from tilting in a box orotherholder.

This' is obviously capable of extension by providing tabs for theindicia 13 at all sides of the square cards 11, as seen in Fig. 6, and

, brought up into desired position in, forinstance, the spe lling of a'word across the indem-,s

ico'

" intermediate extension 25 at 'lt is obvious furthermore that the cardedges may have other tabs 16, in order that the cards'may be properlypositioned and maintained against tilting in their index box or d rawer.

My invention as illustrated in the figures above referred to, alsocontemplates a card for indexes havin r one or more angular slits,indicated at l and as seen in the several figures, forming two sides ofa triangle the slits so directed forming between them integral tongues19, which normally lie in the same plane with the bodv of the card, asparticularly seen in Fig. 2, and which may e bent outwardly from theplane of the body of the card as seen in. Fig. 8, to receive its seriesof data cards 20 and hold the latter as a series in non-alined relationwith their Migros offset with respect to one another, as seen byreference to Figs. 1 and 3. i

Thus the offset edges of the several cards of a series will be visiblevat a glance'with the cards so supported by the card 10, as a seriesindependent of all other series of the index in connection with whichthey may be utilized. It is to be observed that the tongues so formedare turned toward 'opposite edges of the cards so as to permit ofproperly holding the data cards in the reversed position of the card andthat in the form seen in Fig. 6, the tongues are turned in all t'ourdirections.

As seen in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the card is also provided with horizontalslits 21 at the outer ends of its angular slits 17, so that when thetongues 18 are bent outwardly the material of the cards in the lowerportion of the slits 21 form rests for the lower edges of the data cards20.

In addition to the horizontal slits 21, the card may be provided withshort vertical slits 23 at one end of the slit 21, as seen in Figs. 4and 5, for use with a record card 2t as shown in Fig. 9, having adepending to extend below the card slit the record card movement.

it is to be understood of course thatin either of the forms of theinvention shown and described, the card holding member may be formed ofvarious materials, suitable for the purpose, and may be in the natureot' a card holder separate and distinct from the index cards themselves,o'r utilized as either one of the guide cards or record cards, and thatirrespective of the particular manne. in which the slits are formed,tongues result which are normally in the same plane with the body ot thecard, and which when thrust outwardly form effective support for lwldinga series ot' other cardsin non-alined and thus lock its lower edge'against lateral shifting relation with the edges thereof offset withrespect to one another so that the entire series which are offset andalways independent of the other series in connection with which theinvention is exposed to be simultaneously viewed, as seen by referenceto Figs. l and 3.

It is obvious that my invention is capable- Aot various changes,particularly in regard to its wide range of use, and I wish to reserveall such changes and uses to which the invention is or may be adapted.

I claim:

1. A card for indexes having elongated integral extensions projectingtherefrom along opposite edges thereof, each of which extensions isadapted to support the card iu operative osition, and is provided vwithindexing indleia.

2. A card for indexes having elongated integral extensions alongopposite edges thereof, each of which extensions is adapted to supportthe card in operative position, and is provided with indexing indicia,the indicia of one extension being oiset with respect to the indicia ofthe other extension.

3. A card for indexing devices, having a series of slits forming aseries of engaging tongues within the limits of the said eard and'normally lying in the same plane therewith, said tongues beingbendableto one side of the plane of thev said card and the said cardhaving horizontal slits at the ends of each tongue whereby to supportindex cards engaged by the tongues.

4. A card for indexes having at least two opposite edges and providedwith index indicia adjacent the said edges land in nonalined relation topermit of reversal of the card in use, said card having extensionsforming parts thereof adjacent said edges and extending therealong forthe major portion of the length thereof, whereby to support the card inoperative position for exposing the indicia of each of said edges whenturned uppermost.

5. A reversible card :tor indexing devices, having a plurality of seriesof angular slits, each series of slits being arranged to support aseries of index cards when said reversible card is in one of itsoperative positions.

6. A reversible card for indexes having upon a plurality of edgesthereof index indicia in non-alined relation and provided with groupsot' angular slits, each group of said slits being arranged to support inan vupright position a series of index cards When one of the indexindicia of the reversible card is uppermost.

JOHN AUSTIN BEST.

utilized, have their headings

